The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Yiddish was widely viewed, even by many of its speakers, as a corrupt form of German that Jews had to abandon if they hoped to engage in serious intellectual, cultural, or political work. Yet, by 1917, it was the dominant language of the Russian Jewish press, a medium for modern literary criticism, a vehicle for science and learning, and the foundation of an ideology of Jewish liberation. Challenging many longstanding historical conceptions about the founding of modern Yiddish, The Revolutionary Roots of Yiddish Scholarship, 1903-1917 investigates the origins of contemporary Yiddish scholarship.
Trachtenberg reveals how, following the model set by other nationalist movements that were developing in the Russian empire, one-time revolutionaries such as the literary critic Shmuel Niger, the Marxist Zionist leader Ber Borochov, and the linguist Nokhem Shtif, dedicated themselves to the creation of a new branch of Jewish scholarship dedicated to their native language. The new Yiddish science was concerned with the tasks of standardizing Yiddish grammar, orthography, and word corpus, establishing a Yiddish literary tradition, exploring Jewish folk traditions, and creating an institutional structure to support their language's development. In doing so, the author argues, they hoped to reimagine Russian Jewry as a modern nation with a mature language and culture, and which deserved the same collective rights and autonomy that were being demanded by other nations in the empire.

Author: Barry Trachtenberg
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 12/18/2008
Pages: 222
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.07lbs
Size: 9.26h x 6.26w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780815631903

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 02/13/2009 pg. 21
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2009 pg. 273

About the Author
Barry Trachtenberg is assistant professor of European Jewish Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. He has published articles in the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies and Science in Context, as well as in several edited volumes.